"Morning." I smile at her as she files past me to sit in her normal seat.
Michelle grumbles as she sets her backpack down. "I'm almost surprised you're here."
"Why?" I ask, moving to look back at her.
"Flash is going to be goading you all day."
So?
I smile at her. "It won't work."
"You get new stuff?"
"Yeah." I smile again. "Heard you yelled at Flash."
Michelle's head pops right up from her bag. "Who told you that?"
"Ned."
"Liar."
"No." I smile at her as she keeps digging in her bag. "Ned really did tell me."
"And it definitely wouldn't be the Avenger I saw walk into the office and grab your backpack." Michelle says quietly.
She recognized him.
"Huh?"
Michelle almost throws one of her sketch pads off her desk bouncing hard off the back of my seat. "Don't play dumb."
"I'm not." I reply, fishing my phone out of my pocket to txt Dr. Banner.
"Bad news: Your cover got blown. She recognized you."
"No, you are dumb. I didn't do anything." Michelle says obstinately.
I turn back to her and try not to smile. "Well, thank you. I appreciate it."
"Oh god, don't make it weird Parker. C'mon…" Michelle looks disgusted at me.
I raise my hands in defeat and turn around as I hear the bell ring, signaling the start of class. The out of nowhere, I'm smacked on top of the head by the heaviest of Michelle's sketch pads.
OWWW!
"Ow!" I say, wincing and rubbing the top of my head as I turn back to face her again.
Only for Michelle to be smiling at me.
Keys, keys, keys…
I continue patting down my pockets, finally hitting them in my back right pocket of my jeans, fish them out with my pinkie and unlock the front door.
"May! I'm…home." I start to call out, then watch as four unfamiliar people turn to look at me.
Actually, only three.
"Oh. Hi." He smiles at me as I finish walking in, then quickly shut the door behind me.
I can't believe I almost forgot. It's Thursday.
"Hi." I smile at him as he walks up to me, away from the guys he was just instructing on something.
"You remember me? It's cool if not." He starts off, smiling still.
"No, I remember you. You're Scott." I smile at him as he extends his hand.
We shake hands as his smile widens. "Hell yeah, cool man."
Why is Ant-Man in my house?
"So, what's up?" I ask, looking around to see May, Maria Hill and one other person out on the small porch.
"Oh." Scott seems to regain his bearings. "We're installing all the stuff they want you guys to have here. We're still working on the hardline into your aunt's room. But your AI, Karen is all set up if you want to go test it."
Yeah, sure.
I nod, then turn and see that Scott's three friends are all just staring at me.
"Guys." Scott says simply.
"No. No way." One of them says. "Noooo way."
"You said that hot aunt's kid was the Spider-Man." The other one says in slightly broken English.
I turn to glare at him in particular. "Yeah. I did. This is him." Scott says simply. "Peter, this is Kurt—" He points to the offending party. "That over there is Dave." He points to a guy in a beanie feeding Kurt wires. "And that over there, the really scary looking one is Luis."
"Cool. You call my aunt hot again, and we'll have a problem."
"He ain't the Spider-Man." The one named Dave comments.
"Oh. Is that right?" I ask him, then see Scott look antsy. I smile at him before walking towards my room to drop off my backpack.
As I'm in there, I hear Scott say something to the others, then stop as I walk back in. "Do I need to prove it?"
"Nah. That's really really cool though. But you can, you know. Only if you want to though." Luis blabs on.
Sure, why not. I'm in the mood.
I shrug, then walk back to my desk, open up the bottom drawer that I've rudimentarily locked with a bike lock.
"Alright…focus. Let's get that hardline done—" I hear Scott say, then I walk in, and web Kurt's hand to the wall.
"What the—"
The whole room looks at his webbed hand, before they all turn to me.
"Told ya." Scott brags.
"How the hell are you so young?" Dave asks, as Kurt starts tugging at the webbing.
"Don't do that…it'll only make it tighter. I've got to get my dissolvent. Which…" I pretend to stall. "I think I have to make more of."
"Oh come on man! We got a job to do!"
"You just had to piss him off, didn't you."
Scott smiles at me, picking up on my joke. "You didn't piss him off."
"He's bragging." Hope van Dyne says confidently, and I turn and see her and Maria Hill looking in on our conversation. "Hi Peter."
"Hi. Did I miss an email? I didn't know you were coming. I would have told May." I confess.
I thought it was just a bunch of tech guys and maybe Maria Hill.
"No. They're with him." Maria Hill points from the gang of idiots to Scott. "It's their company. He's supervising, and we're here for the entertainment."
"How was school honey?" May asks in the kitchen. "You hungry?"
Yeah, actually.
"It was okay." I shrug. "Boring."
"You're in a good mood for boring." Hope observes with a smile.
Oh not her too.
I turn to Maria Hill, only for her to sip her what looks like iced tea then walk back towards the kitchen. "It was school."
"He's got a welt on his head."
"Hey." I frown at Hope.
She simply smiles at me. "Hi Spidey."
"Hi. I don't have a welt. I bumped my head."
"She hit you in the head."
"No. And I'm hungry." I disagree, then walk into the kitchen, leaving the room mildly bemused. "My dissolvent is right here under the sink." I explain, then toss the spray bottle to Scott.
"Thanks."
May smiles back at me and lets me grab an apple before hugging me. "Glad you had a good day."
"Everybody just lectured. I only have homework in Chemistry." I explain, then take a bite of my apple. May takes the opportunity to examine my head.
"Ooh. You do have a bump. What'd you do?"
Maria Hill, Hope, and Scott all turn to me. "She hit me in the head with her biggest sketch pad." I mutter quietly. Immediately, Hope and May start laughing.
"Oooohhh…That's cute."
Maria Hill adds. "Told you."
"What'd you do to deserve getting hit with her sketch pad?" Scott asks.
"Well, I was just talking to her in homeroom, art, and she started teasing me about possibly seeing somebody…" I trail off, not sure if we can trust the Three Stooges in the living room. "She made it weird, then blamed it on me and hit me."
Hope laughs again and Scott smiles. "Sounds to me like you did deserve it."
"I still can't use Karen to access Peter's address book and invite her over myself, can I?" May asks Maria Hill.
Hill bites her lip, smirking. "I mean, you could, but that probably wouldn't go over well."
"No." I tell them all succinctly.
Scott breaks up the conversation by walking back to the kitchen and handing me the web dissolvent. "That's some strong stuff. The webbing. That works too." He says clumsily.
"Thanks. Made it myself." I tell him, then spin the bottle on my finger before putting it up.
"Where?"
"Chemistry."
"So that's why you need so much help on your homework." May quips.
"May."
"Yup." Maria Hill bounces into, then out of the conversation.
"Is that iced tea?" I change subjects, and for May to nod.
I'm having some.
The Three Stooges all continue to work before Maria Hill turns to me, holding a tablet. "So here's what we've got. A system of wireless electronic sound dampeners. So any conversation in here is 100% private. Karen is now hard wired to your internet connection, which we've tapped into, quantum encrypted and took control of that, so she's now available anywhere in the house."
"Really?" I ask, pouring a glass.
That's awesome. I don't have to wear the mask anymore to use Karen.
"Yup. Working on that hard line. We also came up with…this." Scott hands me…
A brick.
"This phone is archaic." I tell him.
It's one of those old blue Nokia ones. The ones you swear you can run over and have it be totally fine.
"Yes. But…it's also connected to your AI." Scott continues on. "So you can make any secure call, any time with that phone if you don't want to use your normal phone."
"But there's a trick to it." Hope says, prompting him.
Scott nods. "It does. In the case of a true emergency. No electricity, cell signal is down, whatever. This phone will get a call out. One call, for however long you need it to. The signal is mind bendingly strong. Just one call though."
"So get my number right." Maria Hill instructs me.
"I will." I smile.
"I've taken the liberty of plugging in some of the big ones for you. Mine, Hope's, your aunt's, Avengers HQ…you get my point."
They've volunteering to help if I'm in a bind.
"Thanks. I really appreciate that."
Scott's great too.
"Don't mention it." He waves away any concerns. "I did notice one thing. And I'm not judging."
"Okay."
He simply takes three steps towards my room and points inside. "Bike lock."
Yup.
Maria Hill and May march right past both of us and into my bedroom. "Eww." Maria Hill frowns.
NO.
"No. That's for…important stuff. That I don't want somebody to open a drawer and just have access to." I explain to everyone.
"So definitely the Playboys then."
You know what…
I turn around and web both of Dave's hands to the wall, causing Scott to snort because he's trying not to laugh, and for Maria Hill to peer out and see my handiwork.
"That's so cool that you're so young bro." Luis says excitedly. "How'd it happen? You know? Just be born with crazy spider powers?"
I laugh as Scott moves to retrieve the dissolvent again. "No. Long story. Maybe another time."
"Okay, cool, yeah! That's awesome. You know, I bet that it's a really cool story."
"Not really." I disagree.
Maria Hill adds "It kind of is."
"No it wasn't. I thought I was going to have to take him to the hospital. Then he was just fine." May reveals.
Scott disentangles Dave, who gives me a wary look that I smile at before turning back to my room. "It's just stuff. The key's in the top right drawer with my pens."
There's nothing to really hide to them. My old mask with the goggles, a piece of Thanos' armor that I found right after I came back, an old note Ben wrote to me, my Avengers tablet…
Nothing lethal.
Maria Hill unlocks it as Scott walks back to me. "Do you want just general privacy? Cause we can do that."
"Do it really good too." Luis adds.
"Yeah. Maybe hook it up to Karen and have her ask for a password."
Scott nods. "I like it. Your voice as the password, or just a password?"
"Just a password."
If May would need my tablet for something. She would need to get in.
"We'll add that to the list. Add in another…what? 45 minutes?" Scott looks to Kurt.
"Faster if I can just set a default password for him. It's easy to change."
Scott strikes an invisible buzzer with his finger. "Let's do that. Cool?"
"Cool." I nod, and Scott claps his hands.
"Great."
"And we can still make dinner." Hope smiles at Scott, then adds "Don't worry. They're on their own. It's just for six."
"We don't want any of that fancy Italian food. Too rich." Dave comments.
"Bad for stomach."
May wants it then.
I look inside my room to see Maria Hill walking around, inspecting as May is…
Reading the letter.
Damn.
"May." I quickly say, gently moving Scott out of the way.
May swallows. "No, no. It's cool. I just was wondering where you'd put it." She looks up and gives me a watery smile. I return it before my phone buzzes violently in my pocket, causing me to pop to my feet and pull it out of my pocket.
Whatever it is can wait, I'm—
Incoming Call: Michelle Jones
Uh oh. I'm in trouble.
I leap out of my room as I tap my screen to accept the call. "Hello?"
"Peter?" Michelle's voice says immediately, sounding frantic.
"Uh, yeah. Hi." I say, looking back to my room and see Scott giving me an interested look. "What's up Michelle?"
"I think you accidentally took my sketchpad today when you were cleaning up. At least I hope you did, I can't find it anywhere."
I walk out on to the porch and slide the door mostly shut behind me. "No, I don't think so."
Everyone's stuff got cluttered today at decathlon. Cindy and Sally had one of those exercises that everyone had to empty out their bags and 'clear the air'.
It was weird, awkward, and not over fast enough. Ned was being weird the whole time and Michelle was twitchy.
Wait, that's why she's calling.
"Well it's either that or somebody I don't know has it. And I don't want that."
I'm already walking back to my room, one finger over my lips, asking for everyone to remain quiet. "Let me check. I really don't think I took your sketchbook…"
The sight awaiting me in my room is that of Maria Hill having my phone screen up, with her looking confused and May gleeful.
"Hang on."
"C'mon Parker. Be good for something for once in your life." Michelle insults me after I set my phone down on my pillow and grab my backpack.
May laughs loud enough for my phone to pick up on it, and I say "May!"
"I'm sorry!"
Michelle says something, causing me to snatch up my phone again as I unzip my backpack and start rifling through it. "Sorry, didn't catch that."
"Who was that?"
"My aunt. Sorry." I apologize.
Nope. Nope. Nope…
"At least she agrees with—"
Oh.
"Oh." I hear May say, Scott and Hope in the doorway as I somehow pullout Michelle's sketchbook.
Matte black, metal rings on the left side. With a 'MJ' artfully sketched in white on the bottom right.
Uh oh.
"Uhh. Actually Michelle, I do have it." I say quietly.
How'd I do that? I wasn't in that big of a hurry to leave today. I forgot that today was the install date.
If I had remembered, I would have been in a hurry.
"Oh shit…" I hear her say to herself. "Oh, okay, Good. Whew. At least it's not lost."
I flip the first page aside to see "Property of Michelle Jones. Burn if found." And laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"The first caption. Burn if found."
"DO NOT OPEN IT ANY MORE PARKER. YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" She yells at me, startling me so bad I drop the phone in fright.
"Okay, okay, okay…" I apologize after picking up my phone and ignoring everyone's eyes. "It's closed, I've set it on my bed. I'll get it to you tomorrow."
"No, I need it tonight. I need it to practice. For class tomorrow."
"In Kramer's? We're on cubism theory."
The rhythm of MJ tapping her foot impatiently on my chair is more important that that dumb theory.
"I need it. Can't you call a cab or something? I'll pay you back."
"No, you don't have to." I disagree with her. "Give me a second, I'll grab my jacket and head towards you. Where am I going?"
Maria Hill quickly starts typing, and screens start flying.
Englewood. In Jersey.
"It's in New Jersey. Just head over the VN Bridge and you'll be headed right for me. Tell your driver that. I'll text you my address, but you have to let me immediately delete it."
"Okay." I nod and continue being submissive.
She really wants this thing back. She does draw a lot, but damn.
This is a lot for a sketchpad.
Without asking, Maria Hill marches right over and takes the sketchbook from me, then gestures for me to follow her.
Okay.
"Okay, I'm heading out now." I inform her.
"Great. Bye." Michelle hangs up, leaving me with a dead line.
"Well, she sounds fun." Scott comments before May and Maria Hill start smiling again.
Maria Hill gently rounds the bend, pulling past the large display for the 'Stonegate' subdivision as her phone's GPS continues guiding us.
"Thank you again for driving." I smile over at Hill.
She thinly smiles back. "No problem."
My phone vibrates against the leather of the seat, and I pull it out of my pocket again.
"Where are you?"
"I'd keep your phone out." Maria Hill tells me as we take another turn.
I nod, and reply to Michelle
"Just drove past a huge sign for your neighborhood."
"So. While I've got you here." She starts, forcing me to turn to look at her. "No suit."
"You've kind of seen my day." I reply.
Hill nods. "Yeah. But it's been three days."
Three quiet days.
The world spins on. We're now worried about our response to this 'Thanos' and absolutely crushing these "Children of Thanos" maniacs in the press.
People are being arrested worldwide. Little to no warrants, little sufficient proof. Some voices are yelling about witch hunts and scapegoats, but they're being sat on.
We need a united Earth. That's the global message being sent out.
Either get with the program, or be prepared to be stomped underfoot.
"You do know you can talk to me." Maria Hill says, sounding dead serious. "I am capable of keeping a secret." I laugh, and she even cracks a smile before we return to our silence.
"Is it mental? You know Tony had some troubles after falling through the wormhole."
I shake my head.
No. I've followed my old routine two days this week. Got off school, went home, went to the bodega, got a sandwich.
I honestly planned on finding something and suiting up, getting back to it. But there wasn't anything I could do to talk myself into disappearing into an alley.
"We fixed the fit with the suit? Right? You said it was super tight."
I nod again. "No, you fixed it."
"Just 'no' huh?"
For the final time, I nod.
It's a feel thing. I didn't feel right.
Hill laughs to herself as we pull up to a curb and stop in front of a two story house with a driveway on the right and a pair of massive trees on the left. "Huh. Nice place."
Yeah. Not what I had pictured.
I kind of figured that Michelle lived in a small, intimate, dark place. Not a huge house.
"Stay still." I hear, before I'm spritzed with something.
"Hey!"
Hill only smiles at me. "Now stand up, get out and close the door but wait for me to roll down the window. Okay?"
Okay…
I nod to show her that I was indeed listening, then do as I'm told. "Did you spray me with cologne?"
It smells like cologne. Really nice cologne.
"Just a little bit." She admits. "Don't worry, it's not just my choice. Nat and I spent a good hour and a half picking between samples."
"Why?" I ask her.
"Girls like it when guys smell good. It's science." I sigh, then look to her for any other words. "Go get her. We can wait, I can push the reservation back a bit if she wants to talk."
That's not really MJ.
"Okay. Thanks."
"Good luck! Don't get hit in the head!"
I laugh as I turn away from her, walk up the sidewalk, then knock twice on the front door. As I'm pulling my hand away from the door, it opens. "Hey Peter."
You're not Michelle.
"Hey Betty. Michelle didn't mention you were here…" I trail off, tightening my grip on the sketchbook.
"She's upstairs. She'll be right down." Betty explains, then looks down at my shirt. "You…put on cologne? It smells really nice."
"I got sprayed. I didn't know." I confess with a laugh, and Betty smiles at me before peeking around me to look at the black car parked curbside.
"I like what your aunt did with her hair. She dyed it?"
"Yeah." I nod. "Something about changing things up. How are you and Ned?"
"Me and Ned? We're great! Awesome. You and Michelle should join us next time we go on a date. Ned took me to this incredible place last weekend, it's a Mediterranean—"
Michelle appears from out of nowhere, completely put together before fixing me with an angry look. "I'm not going with you on a date with Parker. Stop." She tells Betty shortly before whipping to face me. "You have it?"
I extend the notebook to her as Betty goes slightly red and looks a little hurt. "What? I'm just trying to help your social life. And he asked." She defends herself.
"I did." I cover for Betty, earning me a grateful smile.
"Whatever. Give me your phone. I can't have you creeping around here." Michelle tells me, then extends her hand, palm up.
I hand her my phone and MJ immediately starts tapping and scrolling. "I—I'm doing you the favor."
I don't know what I did to deserve this.
"You stole my sketchpad. My property Parker."
"It was my idea—" Betty defends me.
"It was an accident. No big deal."
"Exactly! Michelle's parents will be home soon. They said you can stay for dinner. I think they want to—" Betty smiles at me again before being cut off again.
"Mom's doing a double today, and I think Dad's picking something up."
I laugh nervously to dissolve the tension. "It's okay. I've got plans anyway."
"Who'd want plans with you?" Michelle extends my phone back to me, incriminating evidence apparently erased.
Ouch.
"Lame people? I don't know." I say, slipping my phone into my pocket. "Sorry I interrupted. And took your sketchbook on accident."
"Sketchpad. There's a difference." I'm corrected by Michelle.
I nod, the look to Betty. "I'll get out of you guys' way. Nice to see you Betty."
"Bye Peter! See you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow." I smile at Betty before I look to Michelle just before the door swings shut in front of my face.
Well then. Okay.
I stick my hands back into my pocket and turn back towards the car in time to see Maria Hill's eyes stay locked on to the top portion of the house.
"How'd it go?"
"I set a new record for making her mad." I confess with a sigh as I strap back in and Maria Hill makes a move to shift us back into motion.
"How? That conversation barely lasted three minutes."
"I don't know." I shake my head as we pull away from the house.
"Who answered the door? It wasn't her. She was blonde."
"A friend from school. Betty, she's Ned's girlfriend."
Maria Hill bites her lip. "Right. What'd Betty have to say?"
"She was actually nice. Invited me out to a double date with them next time they went out."
"With who?" Maria Hill asks evenly.
She's being modest.
I turn to her, only for Maria Hill to stay focused on the road. "And?"
"That was when she came downstairs. Hard no."
"Bummer." She frowns. "Hard no."
Like it was disgusting to her.
"Did she say anything about the cologne?"
"Betty did." I reveal. "She liked it I think."
"Then she had to have smelled it. Good."
I turn to her. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking that she likes you, and you accidentally taking her notebook got a little too close to her bubble. She freaked out."
"That's not Michelle."
Maria Hill counters, taking one hand off the wheel. "She slammed the door in your face way harder than necessary. And she watched you walk up the front drive the whole way."
"She did?"
"There were five windows upstairs that moved between the time that I parked the car, and you walked back."
She had more people over?
I just to turn to look at Maria Hill and try to figure out if she's serious. "That's not her."
"Don't take this the wrong way, but it doesn't seem like she's the most popular girl. It doesn't add up. Except for your friend Betty."
Ned's girlfriend.
"I don't know." I stretch out in my seat and sigh. Maria Hill reaches over and squeezes my knee lovingly.
"Let's get some damn good Italian food in you, and you'll feel better. I'll think things over with a cocktail."
